It’s Monday, and I’m in a mood to multiclass. Let’s review what I’ve already played with in my weekly look at 4e’s multiclass rules.

I’ve toyed with ways to give special weapons special powers, recreated triple-class characters (though no one ever complained about a lack of them that I know of), outlined options to grow magic items in power as you level, and slapped together some rules for owning a money-making business. While I may run out of ideas eventually, that list has hole in it that’s (to my gamer eye) glaring enough to demand immediate patching.

Heritage Multiclassing

It should come as no surprise that, as the guy who wrote Bastards & Bloodlines for Green Ronin, I have an interest in rules for unusual genealogies. Again, Mutliclassing gives us an avenue to play with new powers, in this case for eladrin/elf crossbreeds, dragonborn/dwarf crossbreeds, or even Quarterlines (halflings with a human grandparent). Not every combination is going to be a good idea, and I shied away form doing half-breed heritages (pick human or elf, not a half-elf ancestor). In general, as long as the DM and player are satisfied with a given history, the rules should be balanced no matter what combination you use this feat to create.

The core idea here is that by taking the Woodpile (the multiclass heritage feat) feat, you gain access to some (but not all) of your less common ancestor’s abilities. There are no extra attribute bonuses – if you meet the prerequisite for each heritage feat you’re already assigning your scores well enough to represent the boost a dwarf (or whatever) in the bloodline might add. You aren’t allowed to take this and other multiclass feats because those additional racial powers took study to bring to the fore. You can’t learn to sword fight, teleport like grandma did, -and- master clerical magic. (But like many of my multiclass experiments, I could easily see allowing players to access both Woodpile and one other multiclass feat chain, to represent truly odd backgrounds.)

For this article I stuck with the core 4e player races, but the basic idea would easily expand to cover other backgrounds. I might even look at some more questionable forefather next week...

Woodpile
[Multiclass Heritage]
Prerequisite: Varies (see below)
Benefit: Choose a race other than your own. Somewhere in your heritage, a member of that race bred into your family tree. You count as a member of the selected race for purposes of feat, paragon path and similar prerequisites.
You gain an additional racial trait, based on the race you selected. The Prerequisites to select a race for this feat are also listed below.

Dragonborn (Prerequisite; 13 Str): You gain the Dragonborn Heritage racial trait.
Dwarf (Prerequisite; 13 Con): You gain Dwarven resilience, as the racial trait.
Eladrin (Prerequisite; 13 Int): You gain Eladrin Will, as the racial trait.
Elf (Prerequisite; 13 Dex): You gain Wild Step, as the racial trait.
Halfling (Prerequisite; 13 Cha): You gain Nimble reaction, as the racial trait.
Human (Prerequisite; One attribute of 15): Skill bonuses. Select two skills. You gain a +2 bonus to those skills.
Tiefling (Prerequisite; 13 Int): You gain Fire Resistance, as the racial trait.

Throwback
[Multiclass Heritage Encounter]
Prerequisites: Woodpile, 4th level

You can sacrifice one encounter attack power to gain the racial power listed below.

Dragonborn: You gain Dragon Breath, as the racial encounter power.
Dwarf: You gain Stand Your Ground, as the racial trait.
Eladrin: You gain Fey Step, as the racial encounter power.
Elf: You gain Elven Accuracy, as the racial encounter power.
Halfling: You gain Second Chance, as the racial encounter power.
Human: Dilettante. Select one additional at-will power from a class other than your own. You may use this at-will power as an encounter power.
Tiefling: You gain Infernal Wrath, as the racial encounter power.

Dominant Trait
[Multiclass Heritage Utility]
Prerequisites: Woodpile, 8th level
Benefit: You can swap out a utility power of your class to instead gain one of the following racial powers, based on the race you selected with the woodpile feat. Alternatively, if you selected a race that gains low-light vision, you may select that trait.

Dragonborn: Dragonborn Fury
Dwarf: Encumbered Speed
Eladrin: Trance
Elf: Group Awareness
Hafling: Bold
Human: Human Defense Bonus
Tiefling: Bloodhunt


There is no daily heritage feat, but access to racial feats gives lots of other opportunities to explore your black sheep bloodline. While there is not a Paragon Mutliclass option for paragon paths, there are numerous racial paragon paths in various sources. Since you count as a member of your selected race, you can always take one of those to boost your racial affinity to that heritage.